Enron may have started off-balance-sheet deals earlier

PTISep 30, 2002, 11.39pm IST

WASHINGTON: Enron Corporation's questionable use of off-balance-sheet transactions to hide debt appears to have begun years earlier than previously believed, raising new uncertainties about former energy giant's financial statements going back to the early 1990s, according to a report. It also raises additional questions about the roles played by former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling and former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow in setting up such structures, the Wall Street journal has reported. The idea behind these trusts was to hide from the public the real financial status of the company, it said.